Penny for your thoughts as coins spark family mystery
A CACHE of loose change dating back to the 16th century has been uncovered by a family who believe each coin remarkably marks the birth date of an ancestor.
The incredible find is now in the hands of Brummie expat John Evans, who moved to Australia decades ago.
Most of the currency carries the birth year of family members, with the collection stretching all the way back back to Tudor times.
It has been a tradition in the Evans family for generations. When a child is born, a coin bearing the year is spirited away.
The new addition to the family is presented with the penny on their 21st birthday.
The haul of shrapnel was recently discovered in the cellar of a Birmingham home.
Mr Evans knows that dates on a handful correspond with the birth year of his father, grandfather and great-grandfather.
But the 72-year-old, who now lives in Southport, Queensland, was stunned to discover the oldest was minted in 1573.
The haul of heirlooms were posted to John by a relative back in Blighty.
“A small package arrived here in Oz,” he said. “There was no return address on it.
“Inside was a note saying, ‘I am a distant cousin who was going through my Gran’s cellar when I came across this box with your family name on it’.
“I thought back to my childhood and remembered an aunt had a cellar under her stairs. She was one of my dad’s older sisters’.
“With great excitement I put my hand in the box, which had inside a mix of powder and tiny pieces of paper – then a number of coins. After going through these unprotected coins, I looked again at the dates on them and realised they corresponded with my dad, grandad, great-grandad and so on.”
Mr Evans’ recent attempts to create a family tree proved invaluable in matching the money with dates of birth.
“The coins went all the way back, through to the 1800s, 1700s, 1600s – and there was even one dated 1573,” he says. “I was really blown away and my heart was racing.”
Mr Evans, who was born in Sparkbrook, knows all about the family “coin tradition” – and has played an active part in keeping it alive.
He explains: “When I was ten, my dad sat me on his knee and produced a coin. He said, ‘The day you were born I pulled out all the coins I had in my pocket and looked for one with your birth year on it. This is it – a sixpence. I’ll give it to you on your 21st birthday’.
“Unfortunately, that didn’t happen because I was starting to travel.”
The father-of-three adds: “When my children came along I did the same as Dad. Unfortunately, all of my coins went missing.
“I found them, after going through a load of old boxes just six days before the mystery package arrived. Who knows, there may be other branches of my family who have followed this path for hundreds of years?”
If so, Mr Evans hopes they’ll get in touch. After nearly 21 years in Bir- mingham, Mr Evans was gripped by wanderlust. He visited Japan and America before settling Down Under and working in the import-export industry. But the pensioner remains true to his roots.
“I went to College Road Primary School where I played the Mad Hatter in the school play,” he recalls. “And I’m still in touch with the fieldmouse.
“After that, I went to almost new Moseley Secondary Modern and left in 1961.”